News

New Trade Pact Strengthens Trade Relations

by
Charlotte Freed
| Oct 04, 2018

U.S. and Canadian negotiators worked tirelessly to secure the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) prior to a September 30th midnight deadline. The new agreement will replace NAFTA, a hotly debated trade agreement that has covered the three regions for the last 24 years.

USMCA is a big step in the right direction for all three countries who trade more than $1 trillion annually. American Trucking Associations (ATA) president Chis Spear agreed that the new trade doctrine “is a positive step for the nearly 50,000 Americans working in jobs directly connected to cross-border trucking – as well as the more than seven million Americans working in trucking-related jobs.”

The new doctrine holds true to the free trade framework set forth by NAFTA while addressing some much needed rebalancing. The rebalancing is expected to affect auto makers and dairy farmers the most, with Canada being expected to cap its automobile exports to the US.

Even with the rebalancing, the deal is being praised for strengthening the economies and improving the relations of the three countries. ATA chief economist Bob Costello agreed, stating, “Trucks move nearly $385 billion in goods between the U.S. and Mexico, and $336 billion in trade across the Canadian border – continuing to have free trade between our three countries will only help our industry well into the future.”

The pact still needs to be approved by lawmakers from all three countries, meaning it will not go into effect until 2019.